The War Against the Jews

"The War Against the Jews" is a 1975 book authored by Lucy Dawidowicz. The book researches the Holocaust of the European Jewry during World War II.

The author contends that Hitler pursued his policies to eliminate Jewish populations throughout Europe even to the detriment of pragmatic wartime actions such as moving troops and securing supply lines. As an example, Dawidowicz notes that Hitler delayed railcars providing supplies to front line troops in the Soviet Union so that Jews could be deported by rail from the USSR to death camps. She uses records of "one-way" rail tickets as additional documentation of those sent to camps.

Dawidowicz also draws a line of "anti-Semitic descent" from Martin Luther to Hitler, writing that both men were obsessed by the "demonologized universe" inhabited by Jews. She contents that similarities between Luther's anti-Jewish writings, especially "On the Jews and Their Lies", and modern anti-Semitism are no coincidence, because they derived from a common history of "Judenhass" (Jew-hatred), which she traces back to the biblical Haman's advice to Ahasuerus. She argues that though modern anti-Semitism has its roots in German nationalism, the foundation of Christian anti-Semitism was laid by the Catholic Church and "upon which Luther built." [Bantam edition 1986, p.23. ISBN 055334532X]

The book also provides detailed listings by country of the number of Jews killed in World War II. Dawidowicz researched birth and death records in many cities of prewar Europe to come up with a death toll of 5,933,900 Jews. Some historiansWho|date=July 2007 consider this number an underestimate since many records were lost during the war, many births and deaths were not recorded in small towns and villages, and many births occurred in countries between their last prewar censuses and the start of the war.

Her listings are as follows:

Notes

ee also

*The Holocaust
*Final Solution
*History of antisemitism